Captain’s Corner: Dave Zalewski

The Tampa Bay Times

Dave Zalewski 460-9893

Before the strong winds and high seas forced us to stay in port, both bottom fishing and trolling really turned on in all depths. The majority of our trips consisted of trolling several spots on the way out to the 60 to 90 foot depths to anchor and target benthic fish. Because we have to traverse a no wake zone to enter the gulf, which requires reducing speed to around 5,5 knots which is the ideal trolling speed, we have been putting a #1 planer with either an 0 or #1 spoon out as soon as the water reaches a 10 foot depth. On several days a half dozen or more Spanish mackerel have hit the fish box before getting to the end of the no wake zone. Hard bottom areas about 3 miles offshore have been holding bait and the best Spanish mackerel fishing we have experienced has been there. If there is a crab trap buoy in the area, that can be used as a reference point to return to the bait pile as opposed to blind trolling in an area. If there is no visual aid to refer to, the use of the MOB button on the GPS will allow one to return to where the strike occurred.
Our best kingfish catches have occurred not while trolling, but by use of a stinger rigged flatline deployed while bottom fishing. The flatline can be baited either with a live small blue runner, Spanish sardine, threadfin or a frozen sardine. The activity created by bottom fishing creates a chum line by the baits that are lost or regurgitated by fish being brought up that is irresistible to any predators in the area. An occasional handful of small pieces of bait should be added to this chum slick. If current is slack, a balloon can be used to keep the bait suspended.